


Sister Act

by tevans41



Series: NCIS: All in the Family [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 09:57:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tevans41/pseuds/tevans41
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While the boys are away, Ziva and Abby go undercover to find out exactly what is going on at the convent. Companion story to Brother's Keeper</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Walking through the terminal at Washington National Airport, Gibbs told Tony to go ahead and head home. He had something to take care of before heading back to the office. When the two separated, Gibbs headed for the coffee bar and took a seat at a table where a man sat reading a newspaper.

"You could have tried to be less conspicuous," he said to the man who continued to read the paper.

"Yes," the man said. "And you could have ignored my request."

"Black," Gibbs said to the waiter who appeared at his shoulder, "no sugar."

"I really need your help Jethro." The man said lowering his newspaper.

"I figured that." Gibbs said getting a look at the defeated appearance of Deputy Director Jerome Craig.

"We'll need to bring in McGee and DiNozzo too." Craig said.

"We can't leave the squad room short like that."

"SecNav and Leon have already signed off on it. He's bringing in a few agents to handle the office for a week."

"When?"

"Just after New Year."

"What's the op?"

"It's a protection detail."

"Ziva would-"

"Not be an option," Craig said. "The subject is Hamas, well former Hamas. An Israeli would spook him."

Gibbs leaned back in his chair and allowed the waiter to set his coffee in front of him. He opened the file Craig handed him and read. "I'll tell them after Christmas." He said standing up and grabbing his bag and the coffee cup.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

"McGee, DiNozzo," Vance called from the balcony. "Conference room." As the two junior agents made their way to the conference room, Gibbs stepped over to Ziva's desk.

"We have an assignment coming up," he said to her.

"That is great," Ziva said. "What do you need me to do?"

"Take a vacation."

"I-" Ziva started and shook her head slightly. "What?"

"The assignment is a protection detail for a Hamas defector."

Ziva looked sideways in thought then nodded slightly. "And having an Israeli on the protection detail would be uncomfortable."

"I'd rather have all of us." Gibbs said.

"Well, obviously I would be well suited for the assignment." Ziva said. "However, if someone is defecting Hamas, they will be less forthcoming in front of someone they suspect could be sending the information straight to Tel-Aviv."

"You o.k. with this?"

"Of course. It will give me some time to relax. Maybe go to the gym, take in a show. At the risk of sounding too soft, I can have a little 'me time'."

Gibbs smiled as he turned and headed for the conference room. "Your vacation starts Sunday."

When Gibbs disappeared around the corner, Ziva brought up the Washington Post website to see if anything interesting was happening in the Metro area this coming week. After scanning the headlines on the main page, she highlighted the entertainment menu option and clicked In Entertainment. Ziva was just scrolling through the articles when Abby came shuffling around the corner.

"Abby what's wrong?" Ziva asked coming out of her seat. She had never seen Abby in less than a hyperactive state unless something horrible happened.

"Where's Gibbs?" Abby asked looking around the squad room.

"He's in a meeting with Vance." Ziva said. "Abby, are you alright?"

"No." Abby said as Ziva led her to a chair. "Sister Agnes died yesterday. She had a stroke."

"Sister Agnes?" Ziva asked. "From your bowling league?"

Abby nodded as fresh tears began falling down her cheeks.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Father Thomas Farrah continued fighting back tears while he and sister Rosita finalized the plans for Sister Agnes services. The two sat together and looked over the plans both visibly upset.

"I spoke with her niece in Ohio." Sister Rosita said. "She will be here tomorrow."

"The last of her family," Father Thomas said.

Sister Rosita nodded and the two of them retreated into their own memories of Sister Agnes.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Kyle Davis clipped the visitor's badge onto his shirt. The NCIS escort indicated Kyle should follow him and led the young man to the elevators. In less than half a minute, the doors opened and the agent escorted him to the squad room where Abby and Ziva were sitting and talking. As soon as Abby saw Kyle, she jumped up and ran to him. Ziva dismissed the agent while the siblings embraced.

"I took a cab here, so we can just take your truck to the convent," Kyle said.

"Ok," Abby said. "Look um, I need to talk to Gibbs, but thank you so much for coming by and taking me to the convent."

"You know it's no problem." Kyle said. "I liked Sister Agnes. We should be there for the sisters."

Abby nodded and hugged her brother once more before starting to pace again. Kyle asked Ziva if she could get him an escort back downstairs where he would wait for Abby. The agent and Kyle had been gone about a minute when Tony, Gibbs and McGee came back around the corner. Abby had just turned and was starting to pace back in front of Gibbs's desk when he nearly bumped into her.

"Gibbs," Abby said stopping dead in her tracks. "I need to take tomorrow off."

"Everything alright Abs?" Gibbs asked.

"No," she answered. "Sister Agnes form my bowling league died yesterday. She had a stroke." Gibbs pulled her to him and hugged her.

"Do you need anything?" he asked.

"No," she said. "I just need to be there for Sister Rosita and the others."

"Do you want me to drive you home?"

"No," she said. "Kyle's downstairs. He's taking me to the convent."

"O.k." Gibbs said. "Call me if you need me."

Abby barely heard him as she stepped onto the elevator and headed downstairs. She went all the way down to her lab and gathered her things before heading back up to the lobby. As she passed through the lobby and out the door, she caught the eye of the agent who escorted her brother into and out of the building. He smiled at her and nodded. Was it her imagination or did he look sad too?

She walked up to her truck in the parking lot and handed her keys to Kyle, who unlocked the passenger's door and let her in before going over to the driver's side and letting himself in. He gave her a sad look as he started the engine and put the truck in gear.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Sister Rosita led Abby and Kyle into the common area where the other nuns had gathered. Abby squeezed the nun's hand quickly before joining the others. Kyle stayed behind and watched his sister mingle with the other nuns.

"Sister," he began. "You know her better than I do. Is she going to be o.k.?"

Sister Rosita smiled at him and led him to a sofa set apart from the rest of the group. After getting him something to drink and sitting on the opposite end, she looked at Abby for a moment before answering his question.

"Abigail loves deeply Kyle." Sister Rosita said. "When she allows someone to be close to her, she mourns all the harder when they're taken from her." Kyle turned a worried look towards his newfound sister and began wondering what he could do for her.

"That is not to say that she will melt down, as you youngsters would say." Sister Rosita continued. "Abigail loves deeply because she is forced to be so strong in other areas of her life."

"You mean her job?"

"Yes," Sister Rosita said. "That is one example."

"I get that she's strong enough to get through this," Kyle began. "But what will it cost her? She told me what losing her friend Kate took out of her."

"Yes," Sister Rosita said. "Kate's passing was particularly difficult for Abigail. However, that assassin ripped Kate from Abigail suddenly and violently. Sister Agnes died naturally."

Kyle nodded in understanding as he looked to where Abby sat. He knew his big sister was tough. He also knew that she had an overwhelming capacity to love. What worried him was what would happen if her huge heart broke. Would he be strong enough to put the pieces back together for her? Kyle was the younger sibling, but since he met Abby and learned who she was, he felt a powerful urge to protect her.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva took her cup and book into the living room and curled up in her favorite chair in the corner. From here, she could enjoy the warmth from the heat vent while maintaining the ability to keep an eye on her window and door. Tonight, she decided to revisit one of her favorite books, and one of the few works of fiction she read. She couldn't understand herself why she liked it, but she would rather someone throw her naked into a Palestinian mosque than to let Tony ever find out she read it.

Just as she got to the part where the professor left baby Harry on his aunt's doorstep, Ziva's doorbell rang. She quickly stuffed the book under her chair cushion, grabbing her pistol at the same time. She had the weapon cocked before she got to the door to peer out the peephole. When she saw who was on the other side, she groaned and unlocked the door.

"Hey," Tony said. "Got a few minutes?"

Ziva looked down and saw the case in his hand. "And by a few, you mean approximately ninety yes?" she said smiling.

Tony held up the DVD case and smiled. "McLintock, 1963, featuring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Patrick Wayne, and Stephanie Zimbalist. Run time 127 minutes"

"Aren't you supposed to be preparing for your assignment?"

"McGee's got the hard part until Sunday." Tony said leaning on the doorframe. All I had to do is memorize the intel on the subject."

"Since this is John Wayne, I assume we're inviting Gibbs."

"He's going by to check on Abs."

"I called her earlier." Ziva moved out of the way to let Tony in.

"Yeah," Tony said stepping in. "Me too. Spoke to Kyle. He's gonna stay at her place for a couple of days."

"It is good that they connected."

"Yeah, Abby is awesome. It's good she has some real family around."

As Ziva prepared some snacks for the movie, Tony prepared the TV. When everything was ready, he stepped into the kitchen area and helped her set up a veggie plate while she finished preparing the nachos. After taking the food in the living room, Tony angled the guest chair so he could fully enjoy the movie and looked over at Ziva's seat.

"You know," he said walking over to it. "It's gonna be impossible for you to see the TV."

Ziva's head snapped up and she bolted for the living room. "Tony, I can move it. You don't-" Too late, Ziva came into the living room to find Tony holding the book she hid under the cushion and a huge smile on his face. "I can explain that." She said.

"What's to explain?" Tony asked. "It's a great book. It's probably the best in the series."

"Well, yes," Ziva said a bit off guard. "I mean, I assume it's a good story. I only just started it."

"Well, I think you'll enjoy it." Tony said handing her the book with a smile.

In no time, the two settled themselves in enjoying the movie. They laughed as John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara's characters untangled their marital disharmony and paved the way for their daughter to find love. Afterwards, Ziva fixed them some coffee and talked over Tony's upcoming assignment.

"If the guy is serious about leaving Hamas," Tony was saying. "He shouldn't have a problem with an Israeli-American on his protection detail."

"Perhaps not," Ziva said. "I believe the decision was Vance's. I think he left me off the assignment specifically to prevent the defector from having to make the decision."

"Maybe," Tony said. "It does sound like a very Vance idea."

They discussed the assignment a little more before Ziva realized the time and decided to send Tony home with his DVD.

"See ya at work tomorrow," Tony said as Ziva closed and locked her door.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	2. Two

Ziva approached her desk warily. She saw Tony's car in the parking lot and so knew he was here. What she didn't know was how he planned to embarrass her with the knowledge he gained last night. A quick scan of her desk showed nothing on it or her chair so she approached it carefully. It took her less than a minute to search all of her drawers for any pranks or evidence of tampering. Nothing. Rather than being relieved, Ziva was now more apprehensive than ever.

"Is McGee in yet?" Tony asked coming around the corner and causing Ziva to jump a little.

"He arrived when I did," Ziva said. "He stopped off at Abby's lab to check on her."

"She's not here." Tony said. "She's still with the nuns."

"Yeah," McGee said as he too entered the bullpen. "I should have called her this morning. I spoke to her last night before I went to bed but forgot to ask her if she was coming in."

"I thought I heard her ask for today off when she was talking to Gibbs," Tony said.

"Oh Tony," McGee said moving to put his gear at his desk. "Vance approved the requisitions for the safe house this morning. We need to drive the routes so I can input the variables into the system."

"Why we?" Tony asked. "And why are you giving orders McBossypants?"

"We," McGee began. "So you can learn the routes and be able to make modifications as needed."

"Of course I knew that."

"Of course you did DiKnowitall."

"Very good McGee," Ziva said with a grin.

"That was good." Tony said stepping behind McGee and delivering a slap to the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" McGee asked rubbing his head.

"Gimmick infringement."

"Whatever," McGee said. "I have to go get the keys to the safe house."

Once McGee got to the upper landing Ziva grabbed Tony's arm and made him turn around.

"What are you up to?" she asked.

"What?" he said. "I smacked him playfully. It's not like it was a Gibbs-slap."

"I'm not talking about McGee." Ziva said. "I mean what are you planning to mess with me?"

"Why would I mess with you?"

"You know why."

"Ziva I swear, I have no reason to mess with you." Tony said. "Wait. Do I have a reason to mess with you?"

"Of- Of course not." She stammered. "Just forget it."

"Fine," Tony said looking up to see McGee coming back downstairs. "You don't have to be a witch about it." Tony grinned as he grabbed his bag and headed to the elevator with McGee, completely ignoring Ziva's glare.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby arrived early at the church this morning. She and Kyle took seats in the second row of pews behind the nuns who were closest to Sister Agnes. The children from the orphanage sat in the pews across the aisle. Over the next hour, three families entered the church and joined the mourners. Finally, a woman who looked like a younger version of Sister Agnes came in and took a seat near the back. When it became apparent that no one else was coming, Father Thomas approached the podium.

The service was brief, but respectful. Father Thomas spoke about Sister Agnes's life and career. He told about the great work she did with the various orphanages with which she worked. He even pointed out that the families present were some of her most recent successes. Following the service, Abby joined most of the nuns as they took Sister Agnes to the cemetery at the back of the convent property.

Abby was disappointed that her friend didn't get a bigger send-off. She knew, however, that as a nun who vowed to let go of such worldly things as material goods and notoriety, this was an acceptable funeral.

After everyone else returned to the convent, Abby took a moment to say a final goodbye to Sister Agnes. When she turned, she saw that Kyle wasn't the only one to stay behind with her. Sister Rosita and Sister Agnes's niece also stayed behind. Abby walked over to them and put her arms around Rosita's neck.

"I feel ashamed that I didn't know her better." The niece said.

"Meredith," Sister Rosita said as Abby released her hug. "I am terribly sorry that we have to meet like this."

"Thank you," Meredith said. "I only met her once, when I was real young. Mom always talked about her, but we never visited."

"Agnes kept busy." Sister Rosita said. "She spent so much time with orphaned children all over the world. I'm sure she would have cherished a visit, but the timing was never right."

"And now it never will be."

After they made their own way to the convent, Abby spent the next few hours talking to Meredith and Sister Rosita. Abby and Rosita shared stories of Agnes with her niece with the occasional input of one of the other nuns or in one instance, from Father Thomas. Abby was slightly surprised how little she knew about the nun. Agnes bowled with her regularly for the past ten years but Abby didn't know a fraction of the details in her life. She would not let that be true for the rest of her friends.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Father Miguel Perez packed up his lesson plans and today's homework and prepared to head back to the rectory. His workload would be significantly lighter tonight as half of his students were out for the funeral. He wanted to be there himself today. Agnes was a good nun. Even if she hadn't gotten the calling, she would have been a good person. She truly cared for the children in her care, almost as much as he did. He would stop by the cemetery on the way home to say his own goodbye. As he left the school, he felt his phone vibrate. He checked the display and opened the text message. It seems his plans would have to change. He needed to make another stop before going to the cemetery. He got into his 1987 Ford Escort and headed east, away from the orphanage. With luck, he would be back in time to say goodbye to Sister Agnes before dark.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva sent the last file for the day to Gibbs's email with a copy to Vance. She sent a quick message to Tony and McGee, informing them that she completed their paperwork and she was leaving early. After closing out her files, she grabbed her bag and headed for the elevator. Before she could push the call button, the doors opened and three agents stepped out. The first was an older man, about Gibbs's age with longer hair and a smile on his face. Behind him a younger man with blonde shaggy hair, reminded her of a stereotypical surfer. Finally, a woman, tall and brunette with a rich golden tan looked her over carefully.

"Hey," the first one said. "Is Director Vance still here?"

"Yes," Ziva said. "He is in his office."

"Thanks."

Ziva watched the trio ascend the stairs as she stepped onto the elevator. When the doors closed, she pushed the button for the lobby. While leaving the building, she dialed the number for her gym.

"This is Lisa Dawson," she said when the call connected. "I'm coming in for a workout. Is anyone available to spar?" She listened to the response. "Yes, it will be an intensive workout." After another pause for a response, she continued with, "Very well. Tell them I will be there in ten minutes."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby closed the door after promising Kyle that she'd call him if she needed anything. She was tired and she didn't want to get to the point where she was crabby while her little brother was here. He loved her, and she loved him, but they weren't at the point where she would feel comfortable letting him see her bad side. She went over to the couch and flopped down, Grabbing Bert and hugging a fart out of him.

She sat there thinking about her friendship with Sister Agnes and with the exception of a few sparse times, all of her memories of this great woman centered in the bowling alley. Why did I let her life pass from mine and spend so little time with her? She asked herself. And how am I going to keep it from happening again? While struggling to find the answer to her questions, her phone rang.

"Hello," she said without looking at the display.

"Abigail," Sister Rosita said. "Don't be alarmed, but Sister Margaret is on her way to the hospital."

"Oh my God," Abby exclaimed sitting up straight. "What happened?"

"We're not sure," Sister Rosita said. "She collapsed during evening prayers and her nose was bleeding."

"Where are they taking her?" Abby asked jumping up and tossing Bert onto the couch.

"She's going to George Washington University Hospital. It's on-"

"Twenty-Third Street." Abby finished. "I'm on my way." As Abby left her apartment, she hit the speed dial on her phone. She hated doing this, but she was going to need help and Kyle was just as tired as she is.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva's foot snapped forward and caught her opponent square in the nose. She knew this young man. She had worked out with him before. His name is Gus. He was one of the few who willingly took the punishment of her workout, but he seemed to relish the abuse. Of course, he also gave as well as he got. The last time they sparred, he nearly bruised her ribs.

She expected him to crumble to the floor with his busted nose, but he lunged at her and grabbed her knees, bringing her to her back. Before he could follow up though, she clasped her hands together and brought them down to the back of his neck, just below his skull. As soon as she felt his grip loosen, she raised her knee just enough to whip it sideways into his temple. As he rolled over onto his side, she brought that same foot up and slammed it into his solar plexus.

She quickly got to her feet and waited for Ricky to join in the match. Like Gus, Ricky was a tough fighter who delivered as much punishment as he received. Unlike Gus, Ricky was neither rugged nor good looking. At five-foot, eight, Ziva estimated he barely weighed a hundred pounds. His long nose and extended ears made him look like a smaller version of D.J. Qualls. His appearance was his greatest strength. It belied the power of his punches and kicks and the ferocity with which he delivered them.

Despite his skills, Ziva knew him well enough now that she quickly overcame him and within a minute, he too was lying on the canvas bleeding from his nose and mouth. After their cool down exercises, Gus and Ricky came to sit beside Ziva to grab a quick breath before heading to the showers.

"So who pissed you off this time?" Ricky asked her.

"Who says I am angry?" she said closing her eyes to lower her heart rate.

"The last time you took us both out that quick was when your boyfriend broke up with you."

"I broke up with him," she said.

"Still," Gus laughed. "You usually give us a chance to warm up before you put us to sleep."

"Yeah Lisa," Ricky interjected. "We like the illusion."

Ziva laughed too as she looked at the two men. They were good men, but like most people outside of NCIS, they only knew about her what she told them. Gus was right. The last time she was this frustrated, she had just broken up with Ray. They though his name was Roy. They also thought she broke up with him because he lied to her about something. It was true enough. He did lie to her, but it was a lie that lost him not only her, but his job with the CIA as well.

"I promise," she said as she stood. "The next time, I'll let you win."

"Yeah," Ricky said as he and Gus rose too. "And one day me and Gus will be allowed to get married back home in North Carolina."

"It'll happen," Ziva said before disappearing into the women's locker room.

After showering and making sure she had everything, she left the locker room and headed outside. Halfway to her car, her cellphone rang. She checked the display and answered.

"Abby," she said. "Is everything ok?"

"No Ziva," Abby said. "I need help."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	3. Three

Father Thomas came into the convent to find Father Miguel and the nuns waiting for word on Sister Margaret. He looked at their somber faces and sighed.

"She's in good hands," he said to them. "Sister Rosita will call us when they know something."

"What could have caused this?" Sister Celeste asked.

"Only time will tell." Father Thomas said. "Until we hear something, we should see to the children. Sister Celeste, can you and Father Thomas take care of the dishes?"

"Of course," Celeste said.

"Sister Anne, we need to have the teenagers ready tomorrow. Mr. and Mrs. Wainwright will be here at 9:00. It is so rare that teenagers get adopted, I don't want to postpone their appointment."

"Yes Father," the nun answered.

When the nuns and Father Miguel were off to their tasks, Father Thomas headed to the rectory. Once there, he looked through his planner and began making calls to cancel several appointments.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva pulled up in front of the walk-in entrance to the George Washington University Hospital Emergency Department.

"You go in," she said to Abby. "I'll park the car and be there in a moment."

"Ok," Abby said as she got out of the car. After seeing her friend into the emergency department, Ziva pulled out onto Twenty-Third Street and drove around the block to the parking building on Twenty-Second. She barely heard the double chirp of the security alarm as she headed for the exit to the parking garage. About ten minutes later, she too entered the Emergency department and looked around for Abby.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby stood with Sister Rosita beside Sister Margaret's bed. Neither woman could believe what their eyes told them. Sister Margaret lay in the bed with IV tubes going into her arm and a heart monitor keeping track of her pulse.

"They say she's slipped into a coma," Sister Rosita said.

"I can't believe this," Abby said through her tears. "First we lost Sister Agnes, now Sister Margaret is sick."

"Yes," Sister Rosita said. "We have seen far too much loss."

"Sister Agnes was a great presence." Abby said.

"As were the others," Rosita replied.

"Others?"

"Agnes was the fourth we lost this year," Rosita said. "Two accidents, a mugging, a stroke, all were wonderful people and exceptional members of the church."

"Who were the others?"

"Sister Theresa had only been with us for a month or so, was hit by a car. Sister Elizabeth fell down some stairs. Someone mugged and murdered Sister Angela on her way home from hosting an AA meeting. Of course, Agnes had her stroke the other day."

Abby glanced over her shoulder when she heard someone entering the room.

"Sister," he said as he stepped close to the bed. "My name is Dr. Adam White. It looks like Dr. Price's instincts were correct. He began transfusing Sister Margaret's blood when, in his words, he noticed it appeared thin and watery. The lab analyzed the blood he collected from Sister Margaret and it appears that she doubled her dosage of Coumadin. She also had a high level of acetaminophen in her system."

"So it wasn't an allergic reaction?" Sister Rosita asked.

The doctor shook his head. "No, it seems she just doubled her dose of medicine. Her doctor should have warned her against taking Tylenol with Coumadin."

"But we gave her an epi injection," Sister Rosita said.

Dr. White frowned and looked at Sister Margaret's chart. "There was no note of it. Epinephrine is a vasoconstrictor. There are no known interactions between it and either Coumadin or Tylenol, so there is no need to worry about adverse effects as far as that goes. However, it would have likely increased her heart rate, which may be the cause of her hemorrhaging. We administered fresh frozen plasma and vitamin K to counter the warfarin and a small dose of acetylcysteine to counter the acetaminophen. I'll order another run of tests." He said as he looked at the heart monitor. "It doesn't appear to be affecting her heart rate at the moment, but we'll keep an eye on her."

Abby stared at the doctor for a second before something clicked in her mind. "But Dr. White, wouldn't she have to be taking heavy doses of both for a while to have this kind of reaction?"

"The levels we found in her system indicate that she has been taking large amounts of both medicines for at least a week, maybe longer."

Abby thought for a second before asking, "Why was she on Coumadin?"

"According to her medical records, she was taking them to relieve a blood clot. Dr. Dawson prescribed it three weeks ago. It says five milligrams, twice a day for ninety days. Apparently, she seriously misread the directions because it looks like she was taking ten to fifteen times that amount."

"Oh dear," Sister Rosita said, crossing herself. "How could she have made such a grievous error?"

"I just don't know," Dr. White said. "Did anyone else have access to her medicine?"

"No," Sister Rosita said. "Sister Margaret was very private. We knew she was taking the medication, but only she knew her dosage."

"Well, unless you can think of some reason someone would tamper with her dosage, it looks like she just misunderstood the directions."

Abby looked at the two of them then turned and watched Sister Margaret lying there.

"When will she wake up?" she asked.

"That's hard to say," Dr. White answered. "It may take a day or two. She lost a lot of blood."

"That's too long," Abby said. "Sister Rosita, I have to go. Please call me if anything changes."

"Abigail, what-" Sister Rosita began.

"I'll explain everything later." She called over her shoulder. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby entered the waiting area, practically running. Ziva, alarmed jumped up and met her halfway.

"Abby, what's wrong."

"I need you to take me to my lab," Abby said.

"What's going on?"

Abby grabbed Ziva's hand and headed for the exit. "I'll explain on the way," she said. "But I think someone is killing nuns." This stunned Ziva, but she led Abby to her car at the parking garage.

"Ok," Abby began, once they were on their way to NCIS. "In the past few months, four nuns have died and one almost died."

"What?" Ziva asked looking over at Abby.

Abby relayed the information Sister Rosita gave her. She told Ziva about the medical charts and the levels of Coumadin found in Sister Margaret's system.

"This could all be a coincidence Abby," Ziva said as Abby finished. "I mean the deaths don't appear related at all. A hit and run, a mugging, a trip and fall, a stroke, and an overdose have no commonality."

"Except they happened to nuns from the same convent over a few months' time," Abby said. "And don't forget Rule Thirty-Nine."

"Right," Ziva said. "No such thing as a coincidence."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

"¿Quién es éste?" the voice asked on the other end of the line.

"We need to shift the next shipment to the secondary route."

"Why," the voice on the other end of the phone asked in English.

"There have been some unrelated incidents that may pose a complication to our operations."

"What do you mean?" the voice asked.

"There have been a series of events that seem suspicious to me. I need to look into them to make sure they won't affect our business."

"And this will keep you from honoring your obligations?"

"I am just trying to be cautious. Until I find out what is going on I don't want to risk our operation here."

The voice on the other end of the phone sighed. "Very well, we will reroute tomorrow's shipment through our secondary partners. The next shipment will arrive three days later. You will accept it and see to its delivery."

"Of course, I will not disappoint you."

The call ended and silence reigned for a brief moment before Sister Sara came into the rectory and knocked on the office door. "Excuse me," she said. "Sister Rosita called. Sister Margaret is in a coma, but she's stable,"

"Thank you."

"Do you need anything else before I go to prayers?"

"No, I'm fine thank you."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

"Abby this is insane." Ziva said as Abby brought up another screen on her computer. Abby spent the night at Ziva's apartment so the other woman could make sure she got some sleep. When she woke this morning however, she moved quickly and decisively working out her plans to help the nuns at St. Michael's Convent.

"No Ziva," Abby said as she typed. "It's perfect. You're not working for the next few days. Gibbs, Tony and Tim are on assignment. I have to find out what's going on."

"But there has to be a better way. This is just insane."

"Ziva, my friends are being killed and hurt. If these are just accidents, I can accept it. If someone is hurting them, I need to stop it." Abby turned and faced her friend. "But I can't do it myself. I need your help."

Ziva looked at Abby's sad expression. She knew long ago, why everyone was so protective of her. As far as Ziva was concerned, Abby was as close as she would ever come to having a sister again. Foremost for Ziva was Abby's innocence and love for life that so reminded her of Tali. She knew it was a ridiculous idea, but Abby was distraught and Ziva too thought a series of crimes were being committed at the convent.

"I agree we have to do something," Ziva said. "But can't we just do something else? I don't think this-" she emphasized by pointing to the computer, "is going to work."

"Why not?"

"For one thing, I'm Jewish."

"But as far as they're concerned, you'll be a Brazilian Catholic."

"Are you kidding?"

"No, why?"

"Abby, I speak ten languages. Portuguese is not one of them."

"Oh."

"How about Italian?"

Ziva sighed in exasperation. She really didn't want to investigate like this. "I do speak Italian," she said pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Great," Abby exclaimed, spinning her chair to face her computer again. "Sister Zelda Vercetti."

"Zelda?"

"McGee would approve." Abby smiled as she continued to type.

"And who will you be?"

"Sister Abigail Davis."

"Why do you get to keep your name?"

"Know any Italians named Ziva?"

"Abby," Ziva said after a few moments. "I am proud of you for wanting to take an active role in helping your friends. And even if this is the craziest idea I have ever heard, I am also honored that you asked me to help you."

Abby got up from her workstation and captured Ziva in a surprisingly strong hug. "Oh my God. This is so going to be like Sister Act with Whoopie Goldberg. Except we won't be hiding from bad guys, we'll be looking for them."

Ziva looked at Abby with a raised eyebrow.

"Ugh." Abby said a little calmer. "Did I just totally sound like Tony?"

"Yes you did Abby." Ziva said with a smile. "But it is ok since I was thinking it is more like Sister Act 2 where we pose as nuns to help your nun friends. But without singing."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

"Excuse me, Director Vance?" Abby said entering the office.

"Miss Sciuto," Vance said closing a file and setting it aside. "How can I help you?"

"I know this is last minute, but I was wondering if I can take a few days off."

"Miss Sciuto, I know you recently lost a close friend, but we still have active cases with evidence that will need to be analyzed."

"I know," Abby said, wringing her fingers together. "And I won't be leaving you without someone to run the lab." Director Vance looked at her and waited for her to continue. "You see I called a couple of friends that have the necessary clearance, and they're both willing to help. It'll just be for a few days."

"And who are these friends?" Abby held up a finger and stepped outside into the outer office. When she came back, she had two other people with her.

"Director Vance, This is Carol Wilson," Director Vance nodded to Carol, "and Marty Pearson. They're both super brilliant and willing to work for me for a few days."

"Miss Wilson," Vance said after rising and walking to her. "You helped us find Victor Sterling last year."

"Yes sir," Carol said. "I was happy to help."

"Mr. Pearson," Vance turned to Marty "I haven't had the pleasure. I hope the two of you can keep up while Miss Sciuto is gone."

"Of course sir," Marty and Carol said together.

"Miss Sciuto," the Director said. "Hurry back."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	4. Four

The visitor took Sister Margaret's hand and held it for a few moments. The monitor continued to beep as the nun's heart rate and breathing displays continued to scroll across the screen. After releasing Sister Margaret's hand, the visitor put on a pair of latex gloves and drew a plastic bag from a coat pocket. The bag contained a rosary, which fell into a gloved hand. The visitor wrapped the rosary around the nun's hand making sure the crucifix touched the bare skin. After watching Sister Margaret for a few more moments, the visitor placed a hand on the nun's hand and squeezed before drawing a pen from another pocket and placing the tip on the nun's arm. After pressing the plunger on the epi pen, the visitor turned and left the room. Several minutes later, the latex gloves and epi pen began melting after the visitor threw them into a burning barrel in an alley frequented by the homeless.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

The two women sat in the hard plastic seats and waited. Abby spent most of the morning finalizing her and Ziva's cover. First, she called the diocese of Washington, DC and explained her suspicions. She spoke with Bishop Murray and explained to him that as a criminal forensic scientist, and a devout Catholic, she was obligated to look into the situation and make sure everyone connected with St. Michael's Convent remained safe. After getting his approval and subsequent assistance, she called Sister Rosita and explained her suspicions. Sister Rosita was harder to convince, but she eventually agreed to inform the other nuns in their bowling league of Abby's plan. Anyone who knew Abby at St. Michael's would assist in keeping her and Ziva's cover.

Abby had just completed getting ready for the mission when her cell phone rang. Bishop Murray told her that his office finalized the arrangements. She and Ziva would pose as displaced nuns on their way from Rome to a school, which had just announced its closing. St. Michael's would take them in until the diocese could reassign them. One of the priests from St. Michael's would meet them at the bus station. It took twenty minutes more to get Ziva ready and for them to get to the bus station.

They sat in those uncomfortable hard plastic seats for more than fifteen minutes before Ziva saw a Latin priest from the corner of her eye, walk in and look around. She and Abby kept their eyes averted and waited for him to approach.

"Sister Zelda," he said when he came within range. "Sister Abigail, I am Father Miguel Perez."

"Hello Father," Abby said as they rose to meet him. "We are pleased that St. Michael's Convent can accommodate us."

Father Miguel smiled as he reached for their bags. "Yes, Bishop Murray called and informed us of your travel problems. News of St. Peter's closing came as quite a surprise."

"Yes," Abby said as Father Miguel led them to the exit. "We were looking forward to teaching there. We found out after we arrived here from Rome."

"You were serving in Rome?" Father Miguel asked.

"No," Ziva answered. "We were on vacation. We planned to spend a couple of days here in Washington before continuing to New York."

As Father Miguel stowed their bags in the trunk, Abby and Ziva got into the back seat and waited. Once the priest got behind the wheel, he turned and smiled. "It may take some time getting to the convent," he said. "There was an incident near the State department and all traffic within a three block radius is being rerouted. The gridlock is insane."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

The couple sat in Father Thomas's office and waited. John, the boy they were waiting to adopt wanted to see some of his friends while the couple waited. After a few minutes, Father Thomas entered the office and took his seat at his desk.

"Everything is finished," he said as he opened John's file. "All we need to do is file the documents and John is all yours."

"I'm glad this is finally over," the man said. "We've wanted to take him to South America for months now."

"Yes well, when you leave here today, you can take him anywhere you like."

"It's such a relief," the woman said. "It's going to be so good to finally be able to live our lives."

"Well," Father Thomas said, standing to shake their hands. "I hope John enjoys South America."

After the couple left his office, Father Thomas picked up his coat and headed out to file the adoption papers. As he closed the door to his office, he heard the front door open and Father Miguel speaking to someone.

"Oh here he is now," Miguel said as Thomas turned toward him. "Father Thomas, this is Sister Zelda from Palermo, and Sister Abigail from Louisiana."

"Oh yes," Father Thomas said, "our displaced teachers. Sisters, I am truly sorry to hear about St. Peter's closing. Please make yourselves at home here. Father Miguel, if you could direct them to Sister Rosita, she can get them settled. I need to drop these documents off with the lawyers and then I have some other tasks to attend."

"Of course Father," Miguel said. "Is there anything you need me to do in your absence?"

"No thank you," Thomas said. "I have cancelled most of our appointments for the week. Sisters, it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can get to know each other before your new assignment comes."

As he walked away, Father Miguel began walking the opposite direction. "The convent rests between the dormitories for the orphanage and the church rectory. Sister Rosita is acting as out Mother Superior in the wake of Sister Agnes's death."

"Your Mother Superior is dead?" Ziva asked.

"Yes," Miguel said. "She suffered a stroke last week."

Ziva noted the priests grip on the suitcases tighten as he said that and decided that Abby may be correct in assuming something was not right at this convent.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

"Abigail," Sister Rosita said with a sigh. "Do you realize how unnecessary this is? I cannot bring myself to believe that someone is intentionally hurting the sisters here."

"I know it's hard to believe Sister," Abby said as she unpacked her equipment. "But something isn't right. There have been too many coincidences surrounding convent. Not the good kind and Like Gibbs says 'there's no such thing as a coincidence'."

"I have been thinking since we spoke," Rosita said. "I cannot think of anyone who would even want to hurt the sisters of this convent. The community supports us completely, they even came together to protest when the diocese suggested closing us. There is very little crime in this neighborhood and none against the church, the orphanage, or the convent. Even the children who have aged out of the system remain amicable with us."

"There has to be something though," Abby said. "There are a lot of deaths for one location for such a short period. Not to mention the fact that Sister Margaret had fifteen times the proper amount of her medication in her system."

"Abigail, you heard Dr. White," Rosita said as she hung the spare habits in the closet. "Margaret could have simply misread her instructions."

"That reminds me," Abby said turning around and holding up both of her index fingers. "I need to see Sister Margaret's prescription bottle."

"It's probably in her cell," Sister Rosita said, her lips pursing.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva had unpacked quickly and decided to explore the convent on her own. She had visited the chapel, the common room and the kitchen and found nothing of interest for her and Abby's investigation. She was now in the library looking at the various bookshelves. She was just about to ascend the stairs to the second level when she heard the door open.

"Sister Zelda" Father Miguel said from the door. Ziva turned to see the priest holding a rosary. "I noticed your rosary was missing, so I got you a new one."

"Thank you," Ziva said, taking the offered item.

"Now, if you don't mind," Father Miguel said as the two headed towards the Library exit. "Could you work with the younger children for a while? Perhaps teach them the rosary?"

Ziva stopped dead in her tracks. She of course knew a great deal about most religions in the world, but some of the specific practices were lost to her. She needed out of this.

"Come along sister," Father Miguel said. "The children are waiting."

Ziva began frantically thinking of all she knew about Catholicism. She knew she had to cross herself for various reasons, although the particular reasons escaped her at this moment. She knew too that the rosary was important to the faith and the beads represented specific prayers, but again, she could not think of the prayers or the order one needed to recite them.

"I believe we have enough pamphlets so that the children that can read may do so," Father Miguel said as they entered the orphanage common room. "If you will get everything ready, I'll fetch the children." As he started out of the room, he looked over his shoulder and pointed to a cabinet behind her. "The teaching pamphlets are in that cabinet," he said before stepping out of the room.

Ziva practically ran to the cabinet. She quickly found a short stack of pamphlets that announced How to pray the Rosary (Mary's Psalter). Ziva scanned the pamphlet quickly and thought she had a grasp on the Rosary Prayer until she came to the part of the mysteries. This is an insanely long prayer, she thought. I hope we do not have to chant the entire thing. She grabbed the rest of the pamphlets from the cabinet and closed the doors.

I really should not be doing this, she thought. Through Mossad, she frequently utilized knowledge of different religions while on assignment. However, during those assignments, she merely needed to mimic the traditions of the religions in which she "participated". Here she would actually need to teach young children these traditions.

Her Jewish upbringing was balking at this idea. She felt that if she were going to teach these traditions, she should do so in an abstract manner. Unfortunately, her feelings did not matter in this situation. She was not here as a religious emissary. She was here to find evidence of a crime, or rather a series of crimes and possibly a criminal. After all, she surmised. These children were already Catholic. I am merely teaching them about their own tradition.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Sister Rosita picked up the bottle and handed it to Abby. A quick examination revealed that it would have been nearly impossible for Sister Margaret to misread the label. "Sister," she said. "This label is very clear. It has the strength of the medicine and clearly says take one tablet twice daily. Even if she were having blurred vision, the label spells out the numbers next to them. She couldn't have made such a mistake."

Sister Rosita made a sign of the cross and clasped her hands together. "Abigail, are you certain?" she asked.

"Without question," Abby said. "I may not have been as good a friend as I should have, but I know Sister Margaret is very intelligent and does not need glasses. Sister, someone tried to murder her."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

The monitor emitted the loud tone that indicated the patient was in severe danger. A nurse came running into the room and noted the readings. She stepped back to the door and called a code blue down the hallway. She rushed back to the bed, and removed the pillow from beneath the patient's head and lowered the bed so it rested flat. She had already begun CPR when the crash team entered followed by Dr. White.

"Doctor," the nurse said. "Her tongue is swollen. We need to do something to get air into her lungs."

"Get me point three cc's of epi and an intubation kit." Dr. White said as the crash team worked quickly setting up for resuscitation. The nurse grabbed an epi pen from the cart and injected the medicine into Sister Margaret's thigh while another tech unpackaged the intubation equipment.

"Epi's not working," the nurse said while Dr. White continued to administer chest compressions.

"Give her another," Dr. White called while the crash tech tried to insert the guide tube into the patient's mouth. "Hand me a scalpel," he told another nurse. The second epinephrine injection also had no effect on the patient and the intubation was not going fast enough.

Doctor White sterilized the area on the patient's neck and handed the hemostats off before moving to make an incision. He quickly worked and got the tracheal tube inserted and the opening sealed with a bandage as the techs stepped in to use the defibrillator.

Fifteen minutes after the alarm sounded on the monitor, Doctor White resigned himself to the fact that he could not resuscitate Sister Margaret. He checked the time and called her death before walking out of her room and going to the nurse's station. He checked the patient chart for Sister Margaret and picked up the phone.

"This is Doctor Adam White from George Washington University Hospital," he said when the call was answered. "I need to speak to Father Thomas Farrah or Sister Rosita."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	5. Five

"Sister Rosita, you have to make arrangements to send her to Ducky," Abby said through her tears.

"Abigail," Sister Rosita said. "This is not a Navy related incident."

"It doesn't matter," Abby said. "Ducky does civilian consults all the time."

"Abigail, she had a stroke from the overdose," the nun said. "What more can an autopsy find?"

"They could find out exactly what happened," Abby said. "Sister, someone forced those medicines on Sister Margaret. We know someone tried to hurt her. Dr. White had her stabilized and she suddenly has a fatal stroke?"

Sister Rosita began weeping in earnest. As her shoulders shook with her sobs, Abby consoled her. The realization that Abigail was right overwhelmed her sadness over losing another close friend and colleague. From Sister Theresa through Sister Margaret, there were too many coincidences. Margaret was still critical last night when she came home to freshen up, but as Dr. White said, she was stable. As her sobbing subsided, Rosita began sitting up straighter. After a few moments, she wiped away the last of her tears and turned a determined look towards Abby.

"Abigail" she said, her voice just a little hoarse. "You are right. Something is going on. I trust you to find out what as long as you are careful."

"Don't worry Sister," Abby said as tears continued down her cheeks. "Ziva won't let anything happen to anyone else here."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

For her part, Ziva was already hard at work on the investigation. She began her morning by surreptitiously gathering items that she witnessed or cajoled various people to touch. She collected and labeled papers handed to some of the nuns, picture frames, drinking glasses, knick-knacks, and a wide variety of other items for analysis. With luck, she could use the fingerprints and any possible DNA lifted from these items to build profiles for each person involved with the convent.

Ziva chose not to let Abby know she also intended to investigate the nuns to whom the younger woman was closest. She did not know how Abby would take that news. According to her list, the only two sets of prints Ziva had yet to collect were those of Sister Rosita and Father Thomas. Both of whom would have to wait. Rosita was conferring with Abby now and Father Thomas went to the hospital to arrange for Sister Margaret's remains. She decided that rather than wait to collect from the two of them, she could start with the rest and do some research over the next couple of hours.

She gathered all of the samples she had on hand and slipped out of the orphanage. It took her fifteen minutes to walk to where she parked her car. Thanks to the traffic, it took Ziva an additional half an hour to get to NCIS. Once there, however, she grabbed her spare clothing and the samples and headed directly for Abby's lab.

"Hi Ziva," Carol said as she walked into the lab. "I'm sorry, Sister Ziva," she amended. "How's the investigation going?"

"Well," Ziva said sitting the box of samples on the workbench. "We have only just established our cover, but I have some samples here. I need you to pull the fingerprints off them. I circled the areas you should focus on. You may be able to pull DNA from some of them. I need anything you can get me."

"Ok," Carol said as Ziva carried her change of clothes to Abby's office.

"Oh, and Ducky may be getting a body later today," Ziva said as she started closing the blinds in the office. "If you can, we need you to check the tissue samples he sends you for any drug, poison, and venom that can mimic the symptoms of a stroke." Once she closed all of the blinds, it occurred to her that this is not an NCIS investigation. "Of course, make sure you give official assignments priority, but anything you can get us will help," she said as she closed the door. She opened her dry cleaning bag and pulled her clothes out. Just as she removed her headwear, a voice from Abby's desk startled her.

"Would you like for me to give you some privacy?" Marty asked, smiling from Abby's chair. "Or do you trust me not to put everything on the internet."

"Marty," She said with a slight gasp. "I am not used to more than one person being in this lab." She politely told him she had forgotten about him.

"So…" he said.

"Privacy please," she said with a smile as she opened the door for him. The smile became a short laugh as she heard Carol ask him "Did you use anything interesting?" before closing the door.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby pulled the trigger on the bottle of Bluestar Forensic reagent. Sister Rosita had spent more than an hour this morning sharing with Abby everything she remembered about the events surrounding the deaths over the past few months. From Sister Theresa's hit and run to Sister Elizabeth's fall down the stairs, to the mugging of Sister Angela, through the individual strokes of Sisters Agnes and Margaret.

The death of Sister Elizabeth quickly caught Abby's attention since it occurred here at the convent. This was why she was spraying the Bluestar on a wide area at the foot of the stairs in the library. Abby chose this chemical because it was faster and easier to prepare than luminol and it did not require complete darkness to highlight trace amounts of blood. The latter fact was definitely a factor as it would be too difficult to throw the library into complete darkness at 11:30 in the morning without drawing attention.

Once she saturated a large area at the foot of the stairs, Abby donned a pair of red ALS glasses and turned on her black light. As she suspected, she found trace amounts of blood in the area, but not as much as she would have expected considering everything Sister Rosita told her. After she took swab samples of the blood she found, she began spraying and scanning the stairs themselves, looking for anything that could tell her how Sister Elizabeth fell. By the time she got to the top of the stairs, she was entirely frustrated. She found absolutely no blood trace on any of the steps leading up to the second level.

Not one to give up easily, Abby went down the stairs and mixed up another batch of the Bluestar before returning and spraying down the area in front of the bookshelves. She was halfway across the second floor landing when she saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva sat at her desk dialing yet another number to get the information she wanted. Metro PD lowered the priority of two of the incidents to cold case status, so Ziva had to get the information and evidence sent to her from their archives and property clerk. This would normally be a routine practice, but since these cases were not Navy related, she had to pull some strings and call in some favors to avoid having the transfers land on Vance's desk.

Fortunately, the detectives on one of the cases agreed to send her the case files and their notes via email, and would get the detectives on the other case to do the same. She still needed the physical evidence, but this would give her a running head start. As she was going through the files on the mugging, she noticed that the attack occurred just two days after nun who had died at the convent. She was just pondering that coincidence when she heard her name called.

"Agent David," Director Vance called as he came around the corner. "I was under the impression that you were on vacation."

"Officially yes," Ziva said. "However, I wanted to check a couple of things out while I had some up time."

"Down time," Vance corrected her. "And I hope you aren't using NCIS resources for personal use."

"Just clearing up a case," Ziva said, hoping the half-truth would satisfy him.

"Mm-hm," he said as he continued to the other side of the divider.

Within an hour, she got the files for the hit-and-run case and went through the details and detective notes looking for anything that would indicate a connection to the convent. Once she had hard copies of both files, a messenger arrived with the physical evidence, for which she signed the chain of custody release. She took the evidence down to the lab and asked Marty and Carol to go through it when they could. From there, she headed to autopsy to check with Ducky.

"Ah Sister Ziva," the medical examiner said as she enter.

"Please Ducky," Ziva said with a slight smile.

Ducky chuckled as he leaned back down to examine the body on his table with a magnifying glass. "You now my dear," he said as he pored over the body. "Back during World War II, many nuns in occupied areas disguised countless Jews as members of their order to afford them safe passage. I recall a story I once heard about a group of thirty nuns who convinced the Gestapo to transport them and offer them security from Poland, through Germany and into Belgium where they eventually made their way to the coast and acquired safe transport into England."

"Ducky," Ziva said. "I am not disguised as a nun to escape Nazis."

"Oh of course not my dear," Ducky said. "I was just musing on the irony of the situation. Oh." He said pausing in his investigation. "This is interesting."

"What is it?"

"A puncture wound on her arm."

"How old is it?"

"I would say not more than an hour or so prior to death." Ducky delicately cut the tissue surrounding the wound and removed the tissue to examine it more closely. After carefully dissecting the tissue and examining it under the microscope, Ducky looked up to Ziva. "It appears as though this young lady had a shot of something," he said.

"Like what?" Ziva asked.

"Well, I'm not sure, but based on the damage to the tissue, I would guess that she was injected with something using a 25 gauge needle about a half an inch long. I need to send this tissue to Abby's lab."

"I've already asked Carol to scan the tissue samples for anything that might mimic the symptoms of a stroke."

"Yes," Ducky said thoughtfully. "Perhaps I can narrow it down some more for her."

"Narrow it down to what?"

"Based on what I found in Sister Margaret's brain," Ducky began. "I am reminded of the deaths of Commander Trapp and Major Kerry."

"Who are they?"

"Oh, uh several years ago, just before Caitlin joined NCIS, we were tasked to investigate the death of a Naval Commander assigned to carry the President's Emergency Satchel, also known as the "football". He had apparently died of a stroke after dining with the President. However, we later discovered particularly nasty snake venom caused the deaths of the Commander as well as that of the Marine Corps Major he replaced for that mission. Our young nun here has similar brain damage as those two men."

"So we should look specifically for this venom?"

"Well, snake venom in general," Ducky clarified. "But I would suggest starting with those snakes whose venom has the most lethal LD50 score."

"I will make sure they know," Ziva said as she took the tissue samples from Ducky.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

The eyes watched Sister Rosita as she went through the records. It was troubling that the sister requested an autopsy of Sister Margaret. Rosita obviously suspected something. These damned nuns were such a tight group. It really is not surprising so many of the women shared this secret. No doubt, they all know something of what was happening. The question at hand became what to do now. Would killing all of them bring a final resolution to the problem? Would it cause more problems? What would happen with the business? Would it be possible to take the entire inventory and relocate? It is time to plan the next move.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Father Miguel Perez watched as Sister Abigail sprayed the floor of the library. He knew when he arrived at the bus station that the young nun seemed familiar, now he remembered where he had seen her before. Sister Rosita was quite fond of bowling. She and some of the other nuns belonged to a league along with the young woman from some federal agency he could not remember. Nevertheless, the young nun on her hands and knees wearing red glasses and shining a black light on the floor was the same young woman in a picture that Sister Rosita displayed in the orphanage's common room.

It seems that someone else suspected foul play regarding the deaths of the nuns. He had a choice to make now. He could assist in the investigation and lead it away from his own activities, or he could play ignorant and work to hide his true work from her. He slipped out of the library and made his way to the rectory. Now was the time to plan his next move.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby was getting more excited with each pull of the trigger. This must be how Gibbs feels when he fires his sig at a bad guy, she thought. Every time I pull this trigger, it's one more shot against whoever did this. Her chemiluminescence showed that someone bled a lot in this area, directly below the balcony on the second level. She found some cast off further out, but this is where the body landed. She was inspired to look here after finding scratch marks in the floor upstairs. After measuring the scratches, she determined that something with four legs received a strike from the left side that knocked it off-balance. A couple of dents further down indicated that the something bore similar features to a small ladder. She also found some dents in the railing that indicated someone had banged on it recently. One of those dents had a blood smear that she collected. Now she had so much more from which to gather samples. She desperately hoped that there was enough DNA in the samples to prove useful.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	6. Six

Major MassSpec emitted a beep as the printer spat out his results. Marty collected the paper and looked it over. Frowning, he looked back at the mass spectrometer and shook his head. Carol found a peculiar substance within one of the fingerprints Ziva brought in and asked him to analyze it. Unfortunately, the results made absolutely no sense.

"Uh Carol," he said. "Does this make sense?"

"What's that handsome?"

"Major MassSpec says that the substance you found is cocaine."

"Cocaine huh?"

"Yeah, And not just street level stuff either. This is pure."

"What?"

"Yeah," Marty said. "No acids found."

"Marty, that grade of cocaine isn't found just anywhere. By the time Cocaine gets this far north, it's usually been cut to around maybe ten percent."

"Which means someone was recently in a cocaine producing area or they came in contact with a batch of the pure stuff here. Whose sample did this come from?"

Carol checked the file and brought up the sample on the big screen. "Father Miguel Perez," she said. "I'm running his prints now." As they waited for the results of his background check, Carol and Marty moved on to the tissue sample Ducky sent up.

"Ok," Carol said. "I'll do poisons and venoms, you do toxins and microbes."

"Right," Marty said taking three ampules of blood and half of the skin tissue Ducky sent up. "Why did he want us to look specifically for snake venom?"

"Not sure," Carol answered. "But I have a list of the deadliest venoms by LD50. I think maybe we can rule out the sea snakes."

"I wouldn't," Marty said. "Just because they rarely bite doesn't mean they couldn't be milked for their venom."

"You got a point stud." Carol said as she dropped some blood into a test tube and added a couple of drops of chloroform that would help her determine the presence of foreign proteins in the sample. When she placed the sample in Major MassSpec, she moved to repeat the process with a number of different reagents. Before long, she would know if there was any venom or poison in the blood samples as well as the specific type.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby succeeded in convincing the diocese to send over the records for each nun and priest involved with St. Michael's Convent. Abby decided to look through the records of the nuns whom had died first to see if they shared any commonalities. She then read the records of the two priests and found nothing of interest until she came to Father Miguel's history. It caught her attention that he came to St. Michael's from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana in 2009, but it floored her to learn that he was in El Salvador from 2004 through 2008. She grabbed Sister Theresa's file and checked again to be sure. Yes, there it was. Sister Theresa served with the same mission as Father Thomas from 2004 through 2012. There was a link. Abby jumped up and put the files in the lock box she kept in her closet. She left the convent three minutes later and headed down the block, dialing Ziva's number as she went.

"Ziva," she said when her friend picked up. "I found something. I mean I found a lot of somethings and some of those somethings are on their way to the lab now, but I just found a big something."

"Abby, calm down," Ziva said. "What did you find?"

"Sister Theresa, the first victim served at a mission in El Salvador from 2004 through 2012 when she came to D.C. last August. Guess who she served at the mission with."

"Father Miguel," Ziva said.

"Yes," Abby said slightly deflate. "Did you just have a Gibbs moment or did you guess based on his name?"

"He is a citizen of El Salvador," Ziva explained. "And he is the cousin to Salazar Perez, a major cocaine farmer from there."

"Cocaine?" Abby said. "That's why she was killed."

"We don't know that Abby," Ziva said. "We need to get him here to find out."

"Ok," Abby said stopping and turning around. "I'll wait for you at the convent."

"Abby do not approach him until I get there."

"Ziva," Abby said. "I'm not going to do anything unless he tries to hurt one of the sisters."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva did not have time to change back into her habit before returning and as she entered the convent and looked around, she didn't really care. She knew the children were all in school but she had no idea what the other nuns or the priests for that matter did during the day. It occurred to her that Father Thomas would probably be performing some of his duties to the church next door, so she headed for the exit closest to the rectory. Luck was with her. As she stepped out the door, she saw Father Miguel heading into the rectory carrying an armload of books. She hurried over to the rectory and slipped through the door before it could close. She saw his shadow cross the light coming from a door a few yards away and drew her pistol.

She crept closer to the door listening intently for sounds of anyone else in the room. When she was right beside the door, she listened for movement and heard only the sounds of opening books. She spun into the room with her gun leveled, allowing it to move with her gaze until both locked onto her target.

"Miguel Perez," she said grabbing his attention.

"Sister Zelda," he said. "What are you doing?"

"You are under arrest," Ziva said. Father Miguel raised his hands and stood.

"I assure you," he said. "You have the wrong person, no matter who you're looking for."

Ziva inched closer to him, keeping her gun leveled at him as she reached for her handcuffs. Just as she had the cuffs clear, Miguel grabbed some of the books and threw them at her. Before she could react, he jumped over the desk and plowed into her knocking both her gun and the handcuffs out of her hands. She rolled onto her stomach quickly and reached her cuffs first. As she scrambled for the gun, she heard the outside door slam. She was on her feet and barreling down the hallway. She hit the door full force and was on the ground while Miguel was still fidgeting with his keys.

"Make one move and I'll shoot you!" she called.

Father Miguel dropped his arms in defeat. Ziva didn't bother being careful this time. She moved to him quickly and slammed him into the car cinching one of the bracelets around his right wrist in less than a second she had both of his wrists restrained without ever lowering her weapon. She hurried him back to the front of the convent and had him in her car before anyone came out of the buildings.

"You work with Sis- with the girl from Rosita's bowling league," Miguel surmised.

"And you work for your cousin's drug cartel," Ziva retorted. She jerked the wheel to pass a couple of cars before turning the corner.

Within fifteen minutes, she was driving through the gates to the Navy Yard and heading for the NCIS building.

"NCIS?" Miguel said reading the sign. "What's that?"

"Naval Criminal Investigation Service," Ziva answered as she got out of the car. She came around to the passenger side and opened the door.

"So what does the Navy want from our convent?" Miguel asked as she helped him to his feet.

"Come on," Ziva answered leading him into the building.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

When the elevator doors opened, Ziva brought Father Miguel to her desk where she removed her weapon from her waist and placed it in her desk drawer. She caught the eye of a passing agent and waved him over.

"Where's Dorneget?" she asked the agent.

"He's uh, well, he's off for a while," the agent said.

"Can you take this man to interrogation, please?" Ziva asked, brushing off Dorneget's latest personal crisis. As the agent led the priest away, Ziva sat at her desk and brought Father Miguel's file on her monitor. Just as she sent the command to print the file, she heard the lead agent from the replacement team from across the divider.

"Harmon," he said, answering his phone. After a moment, he continued, "That's my investigation Jethro." Ziva's ears perked up and she listened more.

"That would have been either Lopez or Dukes then," Harmon said after hearing Gibbs's response. He shuffled through some papers as he listened. "Yeah, PFC Sandra Dukes. She's one of only two female Marine that was assigned to the embassy. We're on our way to pick her up." As the team hustled to grab their gear, Ziva too grabbed her pistol.

"Harmon," she called as she ran to catch up. "Is Gibbs in trouble?"

"No, one of the Marines from Riyadh may be the target of an assassin."

"I'm coming with you," She said.

"We got this David," Harmon said as his team stepped into the elevator.

"It was not a request," Ziva said following them.

"Agent David," Vance called from the stairs. Ziva looked up at him as he beckoned her with his finger.

"Request denied," Harmon said as Ziva stepped off the elevator. Ziva did not see his smile as he pushed the button for the ground floor.

Vance met Ziva halfway down the stairs. "For someone who is allegedly on vacation, you are spending a great deal of time at work."

"I am sorry Director," Ziva said. "I was just finishing up some work and heard that Agent Harmon and his team were running out to help Gibbs, and I offered to tag along."

"Agent David, you do understand why we intentionally left you off of this assignment do you not?"

"Of course," she said. "I just thought that if they needed extra help, I could bend a hand."

Vance looked at her and stopped himself from automatically correcting her. "I'm starting to think you do that on purpose,"

"Do what?"

"Never mind," he said. "I trust you have your work caught up?"

"Nearly," she said. "I just have to… consult with someone and you will not see me again until Sunday."

"Get it done," he said, turning to return to his office.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

"Father Miguel Perez," Ziva said as she sat in the chair across from the priest. "You are a citizen of El Salvador. You joined the priesthood at nineteen, and you have served in El Salvador, Louisiana and here. You are the cousin of Salazar Perez, a major cocaine supplier from the region."

"What does my cousin's business have to do with me?" the priest asked.

"This morning, I took a fingerprint sample from you. Our lab found some residue within the print and we analyzed it."

"And?" he asked.

"It is pure cocaine."

Father Miguel swallowed audibly. "You must be mistaken," he said. "I do not partake in illicit drugs."

"No," Ziva said. "But you do traffic them."

"Officer, I am a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. We do not traffic drugs."

"Five months ago, Sister Theresa Morales transferred here from El Salvador. You recognized her when she came, since you worked together previously. More importantly, she recognized you. She knew you used the church to assist your cousin with drug distribution and you killed her."

"No," he said half relieved. "I did not kill Theresa."

"But you do transport cocaine," Ziva said calmly. "If you didn't kill Sister Theresa, then you had someone do it."

"No," he repeated. "I thought it was an accident until recently." Ziva did her best Gibbs imitation by staring at him and waiting. "Look, I agree that Theresa was probably killed, but I had nothing to do with it. I think whoever did it also killed the other nuns."

"And you believe that whoever did it is related to your outside business," she surmised.

"No," Miguel said. "Look, I'm burned. My route is useless and Salazar will have me killed within a couple of days, regardless of any attempts your government takes to protect me. In spite of that, you have to understand that nothing related to what I did outside of the church caused the killings."

"Killings?"

"I think that the deaths of the five nuns are related," he said. "Someone is killing those women. I do not know why. I wanted to find out before the police became suspicious so they would have no reason to come around investigating everyone."

"Especially you," Ziva said.

Miguel nodded and answered, "Yes. I could not afford to let them find out what I was doing."

"So, you began an investigation," Ziva said. "What did you learn?"

"Nothing," he said. "I only started yesterday. I was going to check into everyone today. That's what I was doing when you arrested me."

"So you had files on all of the nuns at the convent?"

"And Father Miguel, as well as the support staff. I was going to look into Jeff and Henry, the janitors, our deacons, the abbess, and the other teachers."

"And you had all of those files?"

"Yes," he said. "I wanted to make sure to eliminate anyone within the church first."

Ziva stared at the priest for a moment before getting up to leave. Once she was outside of the door, dialed Abby's number. "Abby," she said. "I'm on my way back. Perez left files on everyone associated with the church. They may be helpful." One her way to Abby's lab, she called a friend at the DEA to hand over Father Miguel. Fortunately, Marty was out of the lab when she got there and after checking the office, she closed the door to change into her habit.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	7. Seven

Ziva pulled into the alley behind the convent. As she killed the engine, she opened the glove box to remove her sig and credentials. After changing back into her habit, she returned to interrogation to get more information from Father Miguel. He told her what he knew of the deaths at the convent and pointed out that Sister Theresa was in DC more than a month before her death. The subsequent murders could have been someone covering up for each previous one.

"So why was Sister Theresa killed?" she asked Perez.

"That I do not know," he told her. "I do know that my outside activity was not a factor. No cocaine had come through my route while she was here."

"So who do you suspect?"

"Honestly?" he asked. "If it is anyone related to the church, it has to be someone in the support staff. The sisters are very protective of one another. Father Thomas has a heart as pure as any I have seen. I mean he works tirelessly placing the children with good families. He is the only man I know who can get the older children adopted."

"Why is that so difficult?" Ziva asked him.

"No one wants older children," he replied. "Father Thomas has a nearly perfect record with the children over eleven."

"So he is able to find parents who do not wish to have a long term investment in the children."

"Every adoption is a long term arrangement," Perez said. "Do you think parents just throw children out when they become adults? No. Parental love goes on forever."

Those last words were the ones that echoed through Ziva's mind. Perhaps her strained relationship with her father jaded her, but she could not understand how anyone would adopt an older child for what was essentially a short-term relationship. Perhaps Abby could explain things better.

Ziva got out of her car and locked it. She made her way to the convent and slipped into the back door. She barely made it into the building when she saw Sister Rosita walking by, tears still streaming down her face.

"Sister Rosita," she said. "I am truly sorry for your loss. I promise Abby and I will find out what is going on."

"Ziva," Rosita said. "I just can't fathom what we may have done to bring this upon us."

"Whoever is behind this is doing it for a reason that may not be related to you or the other nuns," Ziva reassured her.

"Please promise me that nothing else will happen to these women," Rosita sobbed.

"I promise that no one else will be hurt while I can stop them."

"But can you stop them?"

"No, I cannot do it myself," Ziva admitted. "Fortunately, I have you and Abby helping me." She put an arm around the nun's shoulder. "For now, we need some tea. Maybe you can help me figure a few things out."

"Like what?"

"Like how to stop whoever is doing this to you."

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby came into the kitchen and stopped smiling as she watched Sister Rosita enjoy a cup of tea and a story. She stepped further into the kitchen and got a mug from the shelf.

"Then when Abigail grabbed her ball, she stepped right where Sister Margaret had spilled her water and went sliding feet first halfway down the lane," Sister Rosita said to Ziva's amusement.

Abby smiled as she turned back to the two women. "Then," she said. "Because she felt so bad, Sister Margaret came to pick me up and slipped in what was left of the water. I still have her footprint on my butt."

The laughter felt good for all of them. They continued sharing stories for a while before Sister Rosita excused herself and went to bed.

"Have you told them about Father Miguel?" Ziva asked Abby when the nun was out of earshot.

"No," Abby answered getting up to fix more tea. "I have to go out tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I've been running on adrenaline the past couple of days, but I need to get some Caf-Pow in my system if I'm going to be any more use."

"No," Ziva said. "Why haven't you told them?"

"Because Father Miguel had me fooled too," Abby said returning to the table. "He's been here for years, he's taught at the school. It will destroy them to know they were fooled by a drug smuggler."

"Abby, these nuns are stronger than that."

"Yeah, but it's something else too," Abby sighed. "Whoever's been killing these nuns, if it's Father Miguel, we'll find the proof. But if it's someone else, I don't want them to know we're looking in to it."

"Fair enough," Ziva said. "We have a long day tomorrow. I'm going to get Perez's files then head to bed."

"Me too," Abby said. "I mean head to bed, not the files thing."

While Abby went upstairs, Ziva went over to the church offices. She was surprised to find the door still unlocked, so she made her way back into the room where she first saw Perez this morning. She looked through the scattered mess from his escape attempt and picked up all of the files for church employees along with those still on the desk. She gave the office a final look before leaving to study through the people of St. Michael's.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

The alarm sounded at 6:30 bringing Ziva fully awake. She double checked the time and grabbed the file she was looking at last night. Something Perez had said made her look into the orphanage closer. According to their records, the orphanage took in more than seventy children over the age of twelve in the past eleven years. Of those, the church successfully adopted all but six. Ziva remembered meeting those six children earlier. One of them agreed to help her teach the younger children about the Rosary prayer.

She scanned the file reading Father Thomas's accomplishments through the church and noticed that he had a remarkably high success rate, not only here but also with other orphanages. Ziva got out of bed and dressed in her habit to go to the offices and check some other files. On her way out of the convent, she noticed Abby coming out of the chapel with two of the smaller children. Abby was smiling and telling them a story, which made Ziva smile as she exited the building. As she entered the office of the orphanage, she ran into Sister Rosita who was already there going over some files.

"Sister Rosita," she said. "You are up early."

Rosita looked up and smiled. "Yes Sister Zelda," the older woman said. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to come over and go over the paperwork for Father Thomas. He has an in-home inspection for one of the children scheduled tomorrow. If all goes well, we will be placing Alice with her new foster parents next week."

"Alice," Ziva said thoughtfully. "She's the twelve year old correct?"

"Yes," Rosita said. "She has been very difficult to place."

"She is hard to place because of her age?"

"Yes," Sister Rosita said, "that and the fact that she has Heller's Syndrome."

"What is Heller's Syndrome?"

"You're familiar with autism?" Sister Rosita said, closing the file.

"Barely," Ziva said as she took a seat across from the nun.

"Well," Sister Rosita began. "Autism is a group of developmental disorders that affect social development and communication skills. Heller's is similar however it usually presents in girls over the age of three, where autism can present as early as a few months." Ziva nodded her understanding.

"Alice began regressing in her communication skills when she was five. She maintains most of her social skills she acquired to that point but her communication and motor skills are far below where they should be."

"Her potential parents must be very special people to take on such responsibility," Ziva said.

"Indeed," Rosita said.

"What do they do for a living?"

"Let's see," Rosita said, reopening the file. "Jonathan Hyde is a pediatrician at Children's National Medical Center, and Noora is a housewife."

"Isn't that a research hospital?"

"I believe so," Rosita answered. "Why?"

"It just seems odd that a pediatrician at a research hospital is adopting a child with a mental illness."

"Heller's isn't a mental illness," Rosita said. "It is a developmental disorder."

"What's the difference?"

"Mental illnesses do not inhibit the development of a child and are treatable enough to allow development to continue. Developmental disorders are just that. They are conditions within the brain that prevent development."

"Still," Ziva said thoughtfully. "It seems odd that a pediatric researcher is adopting a child with such a disorder."

"Perhaps," Rosita said. "Maybe he has just developed a level of understanding that he wants to help the child have a normal life."

"You are not concerned he may be adopting her to use as an Italian pig?"

"If that is his intent, these home visits will suss it out," Sister Rosita said with a smile. "But I am not worried about it. Father Thomas does not allow the adoption process to get this far if he suspects maleficence." She once again closed the file and placed it to the side. "Anything else?" she asked.

"What is 'suss it out'?"

"It means figure it out," Sister Rosita said with a short laugh.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

After their talk, Ziva explained to Sister Rosita that she needed to look through some of the files from the convent and orphanage. Rosita was initially reticent to allow her access until Ziva informed her of Father Miguel's arrest and his outside enterprise. Sister Rosita was troubled and asked if he was responsible for the deaths. Ziva could not confirm that.

"I do not believe he killed your fellow nuns," she told Rosita. "He is a criminal, but I believe someone else may have targeted your order." After Sister Rosita accepted that shock, she excused herself and left Ziva to read the adoption records for the orphanage. Something did not add up with the records though. She grabbed her phone and dialed McGee's number. She got frustrated when it went straight to voicemail and she hung up. She tried a couple more times before giving up and trying Tony's cell.

"Wha?" he answered in a sleepy voice.

"Tony, I need you to do me a favor," she said, not caring that he was asleep.

"Nnng," he mumbled.

"I need you to have McGee to look into the financials for St. Thomas Convent and Orphanage here in DC," she said. "I need to know where all of the money is coming from and where it is going."

"Mm-hm," he said.

"Tony," she yelled through the phone. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yeah," he answered. "I heard you. You want me to have McGee look into the financials for the orphanage where Abby's friend works."

"Correct," Ziva said.

"And why can't Abby do this?"

"She is busy with other things," she said.

"Alright," Tony groaned. "As soon as they get back, I'll put McSnooper on it."

"Thank you Tony," she said and paused briefly. "And I'm glad to hear you're ok."

"That's a subjective term right now," he said. "But thanks."

Ziva disconnected the call and grabbed another file. This one belonged to John Farrell, a boy who the orphanage adopted out just this week. She reviewed the adoptive parents' profiles and saw that like Alice's prospective adoptive father, John's new mother, Janet Davenport, was a pediatrician. Dr. Davenport, however, worked at Johns Hopkins, while her husband was a fifth year associate at a law firm in Baltimore. She took out her cell phone and snapped off a digital image of the all the photographs in the files. She quickly made her way back to the convent and grabbed her keys. She stopped into Abby's cell to let her know she was following a lead.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby was worried, but she knew Ziva could handle herself. There was more work to do here though. Carol had sent over the police files from the other 'accidents' and the analysis that she and Marty had done on the evidence. The police found paint chips on a wall near Sister Theresa's body from the hit and run. They determined that it came from a late model Ford. The particular color made it likely to have come from a 2010 to 2012 Taurus. Well, for sure no one at the church owns a car that new, she thought. There was also broken headlight glass and signal cover. The location of the glass and paint chips indicated that the vehicle approached from the far end of the alley and struck Sister Theresa from behind before swerving into the wall. It was a long shot, but Abby decided to check and see if any local garages had to repair a Taurus with damage to the front right side.

She made a note to check into that later as she grabbed the file for Sister Elizabeth's accident in the library. She already knew that someone moved Sister Elizabeth's body, now she was going to find out what the police knew. It turned out that Sister Angela had found Sister Elizabeth after the 'accident'. Sister Angela was not on their bowling team, but Abby knew her from her few visits to the convent. She remembered the nun as being wispy and frail looking, certainly not someone who could easily move the body of the bulkier Sister Elizabeth.

Abby read the autopsy report and found that Sister Elizabeth sustained bruised kidneys, a broken rib, several contusions and the coup de grâce, a broken neck. All of these injuries could come from falling down stairs, but something about the injury diagram looked hinky. She made another not and moved to the next file, Sister Angela. Angela's mugging came just days after finding Sister Elizabeth. After hosting an AA meeting, she headed home when someone attempted to rob her. She had defensive wounds, but her stab wounds were too great for her.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	8. Eight

"Ducky," Abby said. "I know it's unusual, but this is important. There have been five murders here. I need you to look over the autopsy for Sister Elizabeth."

"Abigail," Ducky said. "It is not as simple as just looking over the files. You can probably glean as much as I can from the files. If there is truly something sinister about the death, it would require a whole new physical examination of the body."

"I understand this Ducky," Abby said. "Listen, just tell me this, in a fall down some stairs, is it possible to not only break the neck but dislocate the hyoid bone as well?"

"Dislocate the hyoid bone?" Ducky asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of that."

"It says her hyoid bone was forced back into her trachea from impacting with the stairs."

"Abigail, send me that autopsy report," Ducky said furrowing his brows in thought. "Does it say anything about damage to her face?"

"Yes," Abby exclaimed. "Hey lower jaw was broken from the impact and four of her teeth were knocked out."

"Yes," Ducky said. "I will have to see the report, but you may well be correct. That young woman was murdered."

"I know I'm right Ducky," Abby said sadly. "I just need to find out who killed them."

"Indeed," he said. "I have every faith in you my dear."

Abby hung up the phone. This was her second call today. It was driving her crazy that she couldn't do the analysis herself, but she knew she needed to be here to direct Carol, Marty and Ducky in the right directions. Marty was searching CarFax to see if any sedans reported accidents from the time of Theresa's murder. He was also checking out local garages, but that search was going to take some time. Her next task was to go through the convent and look for knives that may match the one used to kill Sister Angela. She already had Sister Margaret's Coumadin prescription but couldn't find anything that would explain Sister Agnes's stroke. She was on the trail though, and she would find the truth.

She began her search in the kitchen where she bagged three cooking knives. In the common room, she found a letter opener on a bookshelf, but it was too slender to be the murder weapon. As she came out of the chapel, she ran into Alice Holcomb, the little girl Sister Maria explained to her had Heller's Syndrome.

"Hi Alice," Abby said smiling at the girl. "Why aren't you in school?"

"Feel bad," Alice said, looking at the bags in Abby's hand. Abby sat the evidence bags down and knelt to the little girl's level.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked.

"Belly hurts," Alice said.

"Ok sweetie," Abby said standing up and grabbing the evidence bags. "Let's go see if we can get something for your belly." As they walked back to the kitchen, Alice began whispering. Abby listened closer to hear what the girl was saying.

"Tea, tea, tea, tea," the little girl repeated all the way to the kitchen.

"Ok sweetie," Abby said when they entered the kitchen. "Have a seat and I'll get you some tea."

"No," Alice said.

"Please?" Abby asked leading the girl to the table. Alice resisted trying to pull Abby back out of the kitchen. "Alice honey," Abby said. "We need to sit at the table if you want me to make you some tea."

"No," Alice said again trying to pull Abby back out of the kitchen.

"You don't want tea?"

"No."

Abby relented and allowed the little girl to lead her away from the kitchen. With Alice leading the way, they head for the back door of the convent that led to the orphanage. Abby figured the little girl wanted to go back to her dorm and rest so she continued with her until Alice turned to go toward the church rectory. The girl led Abby all the way to the back corner of the building and pointed to the tree growing near the fence behind the church.

"You want to climb the tree?" Abby asked confused. The child continued to point to the tree so Abby led the girl over. As they got closer, Abby saw a birdhouse hanging from one of the branches. "Is that your birdhouse?" she asked Alice. The little girl shook her head but pointed directly to the birdhouse. Abby reached up, but could barely touch the bottom of it.

"I'm sorry," She turned to the little girl. "I can't turn it to see the birdies." Alice raised her hands to Abby who bent to give her a hug. To her surprise, the little girl held on to her neck and braced her feet on Abby's legs, trying to climb up. Abby assumed the child wanted her to lift her, so she held on to her legs and stood up straight. Alice quickly reached out to try to touch the birdhouse. Abby raised her slightly, allowing the child to reach the birdhouse. Before she could stop her, Alice pulled the birdhouse from the branch and allowed it to slip from her hands and crash on the ground.

Abby was in a panic and set the child down so she could check on the birdhouse, hoping that there were no baby birds in it. What she saw made her smile and look back at Alice with a smile and a wink. "Smart girl," Abby said with a smile as she pulled another evidence bag out of her habit.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva knocked on the office door and heard a deep voice beckon her from the other side. As she entered the office, she saw a heavy Black man sitting behind the desk with a folder in his hands.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a deep rumble.

"I am looking for Dr. Ling," she said.

"I'm Cornelius Ling," he answered.

"You are in charge of the Pediatrics Department?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me how to get in touch with Dr. Hyde?"

Dr. Ling smiled as he laid the folder on his desk. "Are you sure you don't mean Dr. Jekyll?" he asked.

Ziva looked at the display on her phone and shook her head. "No," she said. "Dr. Jonathan Hyde." Dr. Ling smiled again, realizing that she did not catch the reference.

"I'm afraid there's no Jonathan Hyde employed here," he said.

"What about this Dr. Jekyll?" Ziva asked. "Would he know Dr. Hyde?"

Dr. Ling gave a short laugh before answering. "I'm afraid there's no Dr. Jekyll here either."

Ziva narrowed her eyes at the Dr. "Then why did you mention him?"

"It was a literary reference," he said with a grin. Ziva turned her head to the right briefly then remembered from where she heard the name. Nodding, she said, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"That's right."

Ziva pulled up Jonathan Hyde's photograph on her phone and handed it to Dr. Ling. "Do you know this man?" she asked. Dr. Ling looked closely at the image before shaking his head.

"No, I'm afraid I don't," he said. "Why do you ask?"

She showed him her identity and said, "I'm investigating a series of murders and the man in the photograph is a person of interest. He gave the name of Jonathan Hyde and claimed to be employed here."

"I'm sorry ma'am," Ling said. "But I have never seen him. And I've known everyone on my staff for years."

Ziva switched the image to Noora and handed the phone back to the man. "What about her?" she asked. Dr. Ling looked again at the image before shaking his head.

"No," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you for your time Doctor," she said before leaving the office.

Ziva was excited for the first time since Abby talked her into this. She dialed Abby's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Ziva," Abby said when she picked up. "I think I found a murder weapon!"

"What?" Ziva asked.

"I'll explain everything when you get back," Abby said.

"That may be a while," Ziva said. "What murder weapon did you find?"

"I think it's the knife that killed Sister Angela."

"Are you sure?"

"Well," Abby said. "It tested positive for blood so I sent it to Carol, but it was hidden here at the convent."

"Abby, that reminds me," Ziva said. "Go into my cell and get the adoption files form the closet. I need you to text me the addresses listed on the adoption files for Alice Marshall and John Farrell."

"Alice?" Abby asked

"Yes," Ziva said. "There is a discrepancy and I want to check out the parents."

"Ziva," Abby said. "Alice is the one who led me to the knife."

Ziva felt as if someone poured ice down her back. "Abby get all of those files and Alice to NCIS and send me the addresses for those parents."

"Alice and John Farrell," Abby said. "I've got it, what's going on?"

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

After Ziva explained her suspicions, Abby hung up the phone and looked around worried. She bolted from the chapel and out the side door. She headed straight to the rectory and crashed through the door. She turned into the third office and stopped short.

"Sister Rosita," she said nearly out of breath.

"A- Sister Abigail," Rosita said. "What is going on?"

Abby noted Father Thomas at the other desk and thought quickly. "Zelda and I had a great idea for a field trip for the children and wondered what we need to do to get approval."

"Nothing," Father Thomas said calmly.

"N- Nothing," Abby asked. "You mean we can take them?"

"No," Father Thomas looked at her. "I mean nothing you can do can gain you approval for a field trip with the children."

"But why?"

Father Thomas sighed and rose from his desk. "First of all, all field trips must be approved several weeks in advance," he began. "Second, any field trip the children take should be studied to be certain it is age appropriate for all of the children. Additionally, the field trip must meet the guidelines for the orphanage insurance policy. Finally, and I do not mean any disrespect, but you and Sister Zelda only just arrived. It would be unthinkable to allow the two of you to take the children."

"Perhaps," Rosita said rising from her own desk. "A refresher on our policies would be in order. After all, an orphanage is run much differently than a school."

"Thank you Sister," Father Thomas said as he returned to his desk. "When you get done, we need to go over our projections for next month before we submit our budget to the diocese."

"Yes father," Rosita said as she and Abby left the office. Once they were outside, Rosita gave Abby a stern look. "I know you well enough to know that was a stall," she said.

"Yeah it was." Abby answered.

"And it was nothing close to the real reason you came over," she said as the two entered the convent.

"I found a bloody knife and Ziva can't find Alice's parents," Abby said leading the way to the sleeping quarters.

"What are you talking about?" Rosita asked.

"Well," Abby began as they entered Ziva's cell. "It's hard to explain right now."

"Try," Rosita said, grabbing Abby's arm.

Abby sighed and moved to the closet. She opened it and grabbed the stack of files Ziva left in there. She tucked them under her arm and grabbed Sister Rosita's hand. Within a couple of minutes, Abby led Sister Rosita into the girl's dorm of the orphanage. "Alice," she called. The little girl raised her head from the bed and smiled at Abby.

Abby motioned her over and the three went into the common room where Abby dropped the files onto a table and sorted through them. "Abigail," Rosita said, but she was interrupted when Abby raised a finger telling her to wait a minute. When she had the files she needed, she opened them and got her phone. After sending the message to Ziva, she put her phone back under her habit and looked at Sister Rosita.

"Ok," she began. "Earlier, Alice and I found a knife outside in the birdhouse."

"Alice-" Sister Rosita said.

"Sister Rosita," Abby said sternly. "I tested it for blood and it was positive." Rosita gasped and brought her hand to her chest. "I sent it to my lab for comparison."

"Comparison to what?" Rosita asked.

"Their comparing the blood against Sister Angela's."

"How did you get Angela's blood?" Rosita asked.

"The hospital collected several samples the night of the accident and the police kept it as evidence. But that's not the big news."

"It seems pretty significant," Rosita said.

"Only if it matches Angela," Abby said. "But the big thing is what Ziva found. The father listed in Alice's file is supposed to work at the Children's National Medical Center."

"Yes."

"They've never heard of him."

"What?"

"That's not all," Abby continued. "Ziva called Johns Hopkins and no one has heard of Janet Davenport."

"Oh dear," Rosita said. "What about Jonathan? We just sent him off with her and her husband."

"We don't know yet. We have to get Alice to NCIS so I can track the names in all of these files."

"Why take her there?"

"Sister Rosita," Abby said. "We think Alice saw who put that knife in the birdhouse. She could be a witness."

"Who could she have seen?"

"I hate to say it," Abby said. "But it's not likely that two separate couples fooled Father Thomas enough to get through the adoption process."

"Quite right," Father Thomas said from behind her. "Unfortunately, I can't allow you to take Alice anywhere." Abby spun around and saw Thomas standing in the doorway with a gun in his hand. "If the three of you will come with me, please," he said politely. Well, as politely as a man pointing a gun at two women and a child could be.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


	9. Nine

Abby rose and stood in front of Sister Rosita, who in turn placed herself in front of Alice. "What have you been doing?" Abby asked him.

"Nothing more or less than the church and countless nations has done since the birth of civilization."

"You're selling these children," she accused.

"Let's go," he said waving his gun.

As Abby, Sister Rosita, and Alice moved forward, Thomas backed away giving them a chance to pass without getting in reach of any of them. He heard Alice whispering "Tea, tea, tea, tea, tea." As she passed him, Abby heard her whispering too and glanced back at her. Sister Rosita had shuffled the little girl between her and Abby, keeping her away from Father Thomas.

"Don't worry Alice," Abby said. "We'll get you some tea when this is over."

"She doesn't like tea," Rosita said. "She calls Father Thomas 'T'. I think it's because she can't say Thomas."

A light went off in Abby's head as she realized the little girl had been telling her who put the knife in the birdhouse. The child was a witness. She gritted her teeth as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She let it continue, hoping it was Ziva and she would realize something was wrong. As they walked, she realized that the dead nuns must have figured out what Father Thomas was doing. Starting with Sister Teresa, he killed them off as they came close to discovering his secrets. Now, because she became suspicious, she had inadvertently caused the deaths of herself, Sister Rosita and probably Alice too.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva pulled up in front of the house on Morrison Street. She doubted that Dr. Jonathan Hyde was actually here, but she had to be certain. She had to hurry this confirmation if she was going to get to Johns Hopkins and check out Janet Davenport. She approached the door and peered inside as she rang the bell.

After a few moments, she saw a woman approach the door. "Hello," the woman said with a smile when she opened the door. The short blonde woman looked nothing like Noora Hyde from the photographs, but that did not surprise Ziva in the slightest. She showed the woman her credentials.

"Ma'am, I am Agent Ziva David from NCIS," she said. "I am looking for Jonathan and Noora Hyde."

"I'm Noora," she said. "Is there something wrong?"

"Your husband is Dr. Jonathan Hyde?"

"Doctor," Noora said. "Good heavens no, John is a district manager for a sanitation company."

Ziva brought up Dr. Hyde's image on her phone. "Is this your husband?" she asked the woman handing her the phone.

"I don't know who this is," Noora answered. "Maybe you should come in.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

It took Ziva an hour to get from Chevy Chase to Rosedale, Maryland. After spending a few minutes with Noora Hyde, she learned that the woman was a publisher who worked from their home while her husband, the real Jonathan Hyde managed several locations of a Virginia based sanitation company. She had no idea why anyone would use their names to stage a fake adoption, but she and her husband would cooperate with the investigation.

After leaving Noora, Ziva opted to save some time by calling Johns Hopkins. She got lucky and found an office that was able to check each annex of the campus and its satellites for any employee named Janet Davenport. As it turned out Janet Davenport was not a doctor, but she was a medical student. The young man she spoke with violated the rules slightly by giving Ziva her home address in Rosedale. Ziva pulled into one of the parking spaces in front of the townhouse and got out of the car.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Father Thomas forced Abby, Sister Rosita and Alice across the yard and into the side door of the church. They made their way down the hall until they reached the intersection leading to the right. Father Thomas ordered the three of them into the door on the left. When Abby went through the door she gasped upon seeing ten nuns and fifteen children tied and gagged, sitting in the pews of the church.

"Sister," Thomas said grabbing Alice by the shoulder. "If you would, grab the duct tape and tape this young woman's hands together."

Abby spun in place but stopped herself when she saw the pistol pointed directly at Alice's head. While Sister Rosita wrapped the tape around her wrists, Abby glared at the man she once thought of as a modern saint. Her mind worked through one scenario after another trying to find a way to put an end to this before something bad happened. She winced slightly as Rosita taped her wrists. Again, her phone began vibrating, but now she was powerless to answer it. She said a quick prayer that Ziva would hurry.

When Sister Rosita tore off the end of the tape, Father Thomas grabbed Abby's wrists and checked them to make sure she was secure. "Now Alice," he told her. He took a step back but kept the pistol pointed at the young girl's head while Sister Rosita bound Alice the same way she did Abby. Finished, Thomas checked the girl's hands and ordered her and Abby to sit. He held out his empty hand and Sister Rosita handed him the duct tape.

"If you try anything while I tape your hands, I'll kill everyone in this room," he said to her before tucking the pistol in the front of his pants. "Now cross your arms."

In no time, he had her hands taped and all three of them gagged. He moved Abby and Sister Rosita over with the other nuns and Alice over with the other children. When he was finished, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed.

"We're out of time," he said. "You need to get to the church." He looked back at his captives. "And bring some help."

When he hung up, he looked at Abby and smiled. "I'm willing to bed you're not really a nun are you?"

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Janet Davenport and her brother Kevin were still quite upset. Of the photos Ziva showed them, they recognized one. The man who pretended to be Kevin had visited them almost a year prior claiming to be a census clerk. He asked them many demographic questions and even delved into a few personal questions. He had been friendly and the questions seemed innocuous, so they felt no fear in answering him. Of course, he had never asked for important information like their social security numbers or driver's license.

Ziva asked if they had ever heard of St. Michael's Convent and Orphanage, but neither had. In fact they were raised Baptist. They did remember the census taker's name. It was William Rafferty. Ziva suspected that to be an alias, but she would run the name anyway. After she finished her interview, she thanked the siblings and promised to keep them informed in the event the identity theft becomes a bigger threat than it already was.

As she left the housing development, she called Abby's lab and asked Marty if he could run down the name the Davenports gave her. She then sent them his photo to compare against any results. She had just merged onto the 695-beltway heading back to DC when Marty called her back.

"Ziva, I got a match," he said. "The guy's name really is William Rafferty. He's a used car dealer here in DC."

"Does he have any connection to the church?" Ziva asked as she cut off a semi.

"Hold on," Marty said. It took a few moments to check, but Marty came back with, "Yeah, he sold a car to the church. Father Thomas Brewer signed the deal."

"Perfect," Ziva said, swerving into another lane and disconnecting the call. She did not get the chance to toss the phone into the seat beside her when it rang again.

"Ziva David," she answered.

"Ziva," the caller said. "It's Tony. We've been trying to get in touch with Abby, but she's not answering."

"She might be in trouble," Ziva said. "We've found evidence that indicates one of the priests may be trafficking children."

"What?"

"I think he may be selling children into slavery Tony."

"Where's Abby now?"

"I last saw her at the convent," she said flooring the accelerator and thanking God the traffic seemed to be cooperating with her.

"Alright, we're on our way there."

"I'll meet you."

There is little you can do to get a stock mini Cooper to go as faster than 130 mph. Fortunately, Ziva had many friends and they made certain hers was anything but a stock mini. As she neared the 200 mph range, the broken lines on the road became solid. She felt like she was back home and even the curves of the interstate seemed to straighten just for her.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Father Thomas spun and aimed his gun at the door when it opened. Two Middle Eastern men walked in looking very unhappy.

"What took you so long?" he asked them.

"Never mind," the front one said. "What is going on?"

"I had to accelerate the sale," Thomas answered. "This new one got too nosey."

"So kill her like you did the others."

"It's not that simple. All of them know now." Father Thomas looked at the nuns and shook his head. Ten years of successful work was now out the window. He'd have to start fresh somewhere else. "Look, I've got three over eleven and thirteen ranging from six to ten."

"I have six passports," the man said.

"So sell the others domestic."

"Are you insane?" the strange man asked. "Americans who buy children have no idea how to cover their tracks. They almost always are caught. And when they do, they talk."

"So do something with them."

"No," the man said. "I will only take the six oldest. You take care of the rest."

"I guess they'll just have to get caught in the fire too."

"What fire?"

Thomas smiled as he looked out at the nuns. "Apparently one of the good sisters here secretly smokes. She's going to fall asleep with a lit cigarette tonight and the rest will perish before they can save the children."

Abby's head jerked up and a lump came into her throat.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva sped down Otis Street. She was amazed that no police officers were present, but not overly concerned. She pulled into the alley behind the convent and jumped out of her car as soon as it was in gear. She ran straight for the convent and burst through the doors. She realized right away that the building was empty as none of the sisters were milling about. She thought quickly and ruled out the dorms simply because there was little room to move around in them and controlling all of the nuns and children in such a confined space would have been unlikely.

Pistol in hand she ran to the side entrance of the church. As she opened the door, she automatically trained her weapon on the two figures at the end of the hall. She silently ran to catch up to them.

"Where is Abby," she whispered.

"We don't know yet," Tony answered. "This place is deserted. No one at the convent or the orphanage,"

"They must still be here," she surmised. "Father Thomas's car is still here."

"We saw two men coming in here," McGee added.

"One of them was Palestinian," Tony whispered. "Ahmad al-Zuhri's former bodyguard."

Ziva nodded, not allowing that information to distract her. "The door to the left is the nave," she whispered. "If they have all of the nuns and the children, they'll probably be in there." McGee nodded and Ziva and Tony slipped past him to hug the wall on the other side of the closed door. Ziva carefully twisted the handle and opened the door just a crack. She peered into the room and saw twelve nuns, eleven of whom had their heads bowed in prayer. She scanned the pews and found the children sitting bound and gagged.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby sensed more than saw the door open a crack. She looked up at it and her eyes widened. She could barely make out the profile, but she would recognize Ziva anywhere. She thought quickly about how she could send Ziva a message, when it occurred to her. She flashed her eyes forward and brought them back to the door. She then blinked three times letting Ziva know there were three suspects in the room. She saw Ziva move away from the door, but her finger remained holding it open slightly.

A couple of seconds later, the door swung open and Ziva rushed in followed by Tony and Tim. Ziva and McGee fired quickly dropping all three of them. As Tony cleared the room and McGee covered her, Ziva approached the three men and cleared their weapons by kicking them away from them.

Tony ran to Abby and removed the tape from her mouth. "Are there any more of them?" he asked her.

"No" she said as he cut the tape off her. As soon as she was free, she threw her arms around him and hugged him close. "I knew you guys would save us," she cried.

"Abs," McGee said, coming over to her and pulling her into a hug. "Tell us what happened."

As Tony worked to release the rest of the hostages, Ziva placed Father Thomas and one of the others in zip-tie restraints. The third was dead and wouldn't need them.

"Father Thomas got the drop on us," Abby said. "He's been pretending to get these kids adopted and selling them to foreigners as slaves. I don't know who these two are."

"The smiling ray of sunshine there is Safir al-Ajami," Tony said. "Human trafficker and former bodyguard to one Ahmad al-Zuhri."

"Boss," McGee said into his phone. "We found Abby. And we have some news about Ahmad's bodyguard."


	10. Ten

Abby and Ziva on one side of the table staring at Father Thomas Brewer. While Ziva occasionally looked down at the file she compiled, Abby sat seething at the man. Father Thomas winced as he shifted in his chair. The doctors gave him some pain medicine before releasing him into NCIS custody, but it was starting to wear off.

"How long have you been selling children?" Abby asked him.

Thomas looked at her with contempt but said nothing.

Ziva shoved a pad and pencil to him. "I want the names of every child you have sold," she began. "I want to know when you sold them, who you sold them to, and where they are."

Thomas laughed at her and shoved the pad back to her. "Most of them are probably dead by now," he said. "Besides, I didn't exactly keep records."

Abby's muscles tensed. She wanted so badly to lunge across the table at him. Ziva placed a hand on her friend's arm and continued. "I also want to know to whom you have sold children besides Safir al-Ajami?"

"You're kidding right?" Thomas said. "First, these are not people you want to turn over to the police. Second, even if I wanted to give you their names, the names would be aliases. Most important however, even if you have their correct names, you'd never find them."

"Give me what you have."

"I want a deal."

"Ok," Ziva said. "Here's your deal. You give me every name of every child, the location of each child, and the name of the people to whom you sold them. In exchange, I will make certain Abby has no further involvement with this case." Abby's head snapped to the left as she looked at Ziva. "I mean after all, you have killed five of her friends, sold children into slavery, and held her at gunpoint. As a forensic scientist, I am certain that she knows how to hurt you in ways that are untraceable."

"Actually, I can even kill without leaving a trace of evidence," Abby said. "But for you, I'd take you right to the edge and bring you back, again, and again, and again. I would make it my life's work doing things to you that haven't been done in centuries and making up new things to do to you every day." By this point, she was on her feet and leaning close enough to the man, he could smell the fruity syrup from her soft drink on her lips. Ziva again placed a hand on her arm and Abby returned to her seat before taking another sip from her Caf-Pow.

"You are looking at the death sentence for each murder," Ziva said. "Plus at least seventy counts of human trafficking."

"So take death off the table," Thomas said.

"Oh I will," Abby said.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Abby entered the next name into her computer. After the prosecutor and Father Thomas's lawyer showed up, her answers came quickly. It turned out Thomas did indeed keep records of his transactions, meticulously. It took Ziva less than a half hour to return to the church and collect the files from the rectory. An hour later, copies of each file were put on Abby's desk and she divided the work. Ziva and McGee each took a short stack back to the bullpen to begin searching for the children. Both Carol and Marty worked from the lab, and Abby herself worked from her office. In the five hours since getting the files, they had located nearly thirty of the children. None of the ones found were technically children any more, some were dead and beyond her help. She compiled a list of the ones still living as well as dossiers on the people who had bought them. While tracking down the next name on her list, she decided to grab a snack from the vending machine down the hall. Just as she fed her dollar into the machine, she felt a presence behind her. She turned and saw Director Vance staring at her.

"Hello… Director Vance," she said slowly.

"Miss Sciuto," he said. "You left here a couple of days ago for bereavement."

"Yes sir,"

"Technically," he continued. "It wasn't a bereavement leave since it was a friend who died and not a family member. I'll concede the sister was a close friend, but that's beside the point." Abby nodded. "Since then, you have conscripted one of my most valuable agents to use her free time and NCIS resources to bring down a drug smuggler, a human trafficker, and a murderer. All of these should have been handled by civilian authorities or at the very least other agencies." Again, Abby nodded. "I now have DEA, the FBI, Homeland Security, DC Metro, the Catholic Church, and a couple of other agencies screaming at me wondering why they were not informed of the case. I don't like being screamed at Miss Sciuto."

"Director," Abby said. "I'm really sorry for getting you yelled at, but-"

"I'm not finished," Vance interrupted. "In addition, you are continuing to use NCIS resources to find the children sold by a rogue priest. I now have to coordinate a multi-agency campaign to reclaim these children and bring those who purchased them to justice. All of this because you got this agency involved in what could turn out to be the biggest international conspiracy of this decade."

"Director," Abby tried again. "I am really sorry, but-"

"Miss Sciuto," Vance interrupted again. "Abby," he said softer. "Good job." With that, he turned to leave, stopping only to look back at her. He smiled at her face, which showed both surprise and pride. "I'm Proud of you Abby. If you ever want a job as a field agent, let me know." He turned the corner smiling again at her squeal of pleasure.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

It had been a productive week. Carol and Marty brought the last of their work to Abby smiling and letting her know they had found all but four of the children still alive. Abby gave both of them a hug, thanking them again for filling in for her and helping her solve this case.

"Anytime you guys need anything," she said. "Let me know."

"It was our pleasure," Carol said.

"Yeah," Marty chimed in. "And we're sorry about your lab."

Abby straightened up and looked worried. "What happened to the lab?" she asked looking around.

"You'll find it," he said as he grabbed Carol's hand.

Abby noticed the handholding immediately. "You two didn't…"

"No!" Carol exclaimed. "I mean, not in the lab."

"Then what did you do?"

Marty smiled as the two of them turned and walked out of the lab. Abby looked again at her lab, checking for sawed off legs or retractable steps, but found nothing. As she turned to go back into her office, she wondered what she would find when she decided to look harder at what happened to her lab. She knew nothing bad had happened. Both Marty and Carol were too professional, so she decided to think about it tomorrow. Tonight, though, she was going to go home and rest. Vance was working to coordinate the rescue. Gibbs, Tony, and McGee were taking care of Safir al-Ajami. Ziva was gone to work out some frustration. The Church was sending a new priest to the convent and the children and nuns were safe. For the first time since she could remember, Abby was well and truly tired.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._

Ziva put her bag on her shoulder as she walked out of District Defense & Fitness Center. She gave a contented sigh before putting her earbuds in. As the Israeli band began playing, she looked over her shoulder and saw Gus and Ricky walking to out on shaky legs.

"Thanks for the workout Gus," she said as she began walking again. Glancing at them over her shoulder again, she added, "Sorry about the nose." She smiled slightly before looking up at her car. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her red Mini-Cooper sat in the spot she left it with exhaust coming from the tailpipe. She removed her earbuds and quickly checked her surroundings. She saw no apparent threats and no innocents in immediate danger so she dropped her gym bag while she drew her pistol and moved quickly to her vehicle. She pulled the driver's door open and brought her pistol to bear on the person sitting in the passenger seat. What she saw made her blood chill and her gun hand went numb.

"What? No kiss for your father?" Eli David asked his stunned daughter.

_.-~=]})*({[=~-._


End file.
